Season Structure

Here's what I know about the way the season is structured:

There are 26(??) weeks of football. Each team plays every sunday, with two exceptions:
1. one week the team gets the week off
2. one week the team plays on Monday night, their "Showcase" game
I have no idea how it's decided which weeks the team gets the week off and the Monday night game.

Each week, two different teams play each other. Two teams will never play each other twice.

There are two leagues, AFL and NFL. Let's say there are 12 teams on each league. That means for 6 weeks, the league plays within itself. Then after that, I would imagine that you get to the "playoffs", if you will. Do they call it that in football? This is when the league champion is determined. Then comes the superbowl, where the two league champions meet.

Here's what Nancy determined about this weekend's game:

The Pats are not playing this Sunday. In the opponent column of the NFL schedule for this Sunday, it says, "BYE." Is that supposed to be cute, like bye as in see you later? Or is that some sort of football-related acronym? Discuss.

http://www.nfl.com/teams/schedule/NE

Anyhoo, they are not playing until the Sunday of the NYC Knit Out -- I smell a conflict. We'll have to squeeze in some post-bowling Monday night football or something. Gosh, that's so blue collar. Maybe we could start cat-calling guys on the street too, like construction workers. I've always wanted to yell:

"Hey baby baby, can I get me some of that!"

Comments

[hadas]

i've been thinking about BYE all night and i still don't have a clue what it could stand for. so i think you're right about it being something like a "cheerio, catch you next week chaps!"

who are we going to watch on sunday then? do you know who they'll be showing on the local channels?

[nancy]

According to NFL.com, we can catch the Tampa Bay at Oakland game Sunday at 8:30 on ESPN. This is bound to be showing at a bar somewhere -- preferably a bar with a big TV screen (I'm blind as Mr. Magoo). I think we should add NFL.com and NESN.com to the Football Links section (can I do that as a guest author?)

[hadas]

I'll add those links, I don't think you can do it. You often mention Mr. Magoo, so I think it's time that I admit that I really don't know who that is. I've heard the name, and I understand that he's visually impaired. Maybe you can provide a link to the Mr. Magoo website as well?

Pete offered us this suggestion:

good luck with the whole football thing. after reading the blog you set up, you might want to watch more than just the NFL. College football is on saturdays. more time to study

[nancy]

I have a special place in my heart for the old Mr. Magoo cartoons despite Magoo's politically incorrect buck-toothed asian house boy (i.e. his bitch) and the flack from advocates of the visually impaired. I love how he mistakes his nephew wearing a fur coat for a bear. I once mistook a dog walking away from me for a one-eyed dog, and I'm not kidding. I can provide witnesses. Solidarity Mr. Magoo!!
http://www.toonopedia.com/magoo.htm

[hadas]

The name Mr. Magoo sounds to me like he should be the subject of a dirty limerick. "Dirty old Mr. Magoo, He liked to pee in his shoe..."

[Alicia]

hey, I actually know what a Bye is. It means you're pushed through to the next phase of competiton. Like, you don't have to play in the first round for some reason. For the Pats, this is probably because they won the Superbowl and/or played the NFL season opener with the Colts and won that.

[hadas]

I have to disagree with Alicia with on this one. I think the BYE week refers to the one week per season that a team gets a vacation. I heard Pete say that this week is the Raven's BYE week. I really want to know what this stands for. I think we should figure out what the Y stands for, and if we get that the rest of the letters should fall into place. Yards, your, yellow, yes, year... ooo maybe it's year. Bi-year excursion? That's dumb. Best Yearly Extension. Hmmm, maybe it's not year. Young, yesterday, ylang ylang, yoga, yemen, yearn. . .